Jarek
For the tenth time in little more than an hour, I reminded myself that serving as Ambassador Arus’ Counselor, his right hand man, during first contact with Earth was both an honor and a privilege. I had gone to the greatest possible lengths to merit the position, virtually remaking my life in the process. And yet, standing in front of the tall windows of my embassy office, looking out toward the slowly flowing Potomac River in the distance, I couldn’t help thinking of the old Krinar saying: Be careful what you hunt lest it turn, tear your guts out and eat them before your eyes.
Some of what our predictive algorithms had told us to expect when we made contact with Earth had proven to be accurate. The Chinese had been the first--and the last--to fire nuclear missiles at us. We’d responded by destroying the nuclear weapons of every country, a measure we’d have had to take under any circumstances. Since then our dealings with Beijing had been cordial on our part and sensibly careful on theirs.
The Russians had used the distraction of our arrival to try to seize more territory in Eastern Europe, a ploy we’d anticipated. We put a quick stop to it sufficient to assure that they made no further such attempts.
That brought us to the Americans, who were at once our biggest surprise and our most pressing concern. Not their government so much as the people themselves, tens of millions of whom were armed, proficient as hunters and soldiers, and even more stubbornly rebellious than we had anticipated. We urgently needed to find a way to win them over, a task made far more difficult by the damn video now flooding their air waves and internet.
I was mulling over various ways to deal with it when the sudden shriek of metal and glass interrupted me. The air was still reverberating when my office door was thrust open. The tall, powerfully built warrior who appeared inclined his head respectfully.
“Excuse me,” Altan said, “but a situation is developing out in front.”
I nodded, appreciating the efficient, calm presence of a senior member of the Guardians who was also a personal friend. Altan had been one of the first to welcome me back when I returned from performing the penitent ritual of kusakhina. We played defrebs together often.
Glancing down, I noted the three large black pick-up trucks that had slammed into the wall surrounding the embassy. People were pouring from the vehicles with more coming from the surrounding streets. Several were already attempting to scale the wall.
“Shall we deploy shields?” Altan asked.
Ambassador Arus was at the United Nations in New York. In his absence, I was in overall charge of the embassy. Conscious as I was of that responsibility, I still hesitated.
So far, we had kept the full extent of our weapons--both defensive and offensive--under wraps rather than alarm the humans even more. Shield technology was part of our most basic arsenal but I wasn’t eager to show it off if that could be avoided. The last thing we needed was yet another excuse for panic and violence.
“Let’s give the National Guard a chance first. It’s almost curfew, isn’t it?”
“Twenty minutes to.”
“Better to keep it human-to-human as long as possible, don’t you think?”
Altan nodded but he looked skeptical. I couldn’t blame him. With each passing day, we were less convinced that any of Earth’s nation states could maintain order. Several hundred people had already died. Many thousands more had been injured. Both numbers were likely to grow exponentially unless someone got control of the situation quickly.
“I’m going down,” I said, deciding even as I spoke.
“Ambassador Arus--” Altan began.
“Wouldn’t approve,” I finished with a nod as I headed for the door. “Duly noted.”
I wanted--needed--to be on the ground, in the thick of it, not merely giving orders but experiencing the consequences of them for myself. As much as I appreciated my current position, I was discovering that it had drawbacks. Too much sitting behind a desk or at a conference table. Too much talking when I vastly preferred action.
The scene in front of the embassy was enough to give me pause. In the space of minutes, several hundred more people had arrived. At first glance, they appeared to be ordinary civilians spontaneously acting out their anger and fear.
But I was skeptical. Our intelligence sources left no doubt that some of the most powerful and privileged elements of Earth society were seeking ways to exploit our arrival for their own benefit. They wouldn’t succeed but there was no telling how far they would go before they realized that. Fomenting widespread chaos in order to topple governments might make sense from their point of view. Nothing would spur that along faster than a few more deadly encounters between humans and Krinar.
“Are all our people accounted for?” I asked as I studied the scene.
“They are,” Altan confirmed. “And stun weapons are on standby.”
I nodded, hoping we wouldn’t need them but prepared to do whatever was necessary to protect the embassy and the lives of those inside it.
I was considering our options when my attention was caught by the sudden appearance of a young human woman at the edge of the mob. Clearly not one of the screaming, rampaging crowd, she was tall for an Earth female and perfectly proportioned with that extraordinary light hair, radiant as the sun, unknown among the Krinar. Without warning, I found myself intently focused on her, all my senses attuned to her presence.
The moment she realized what she had stumbled into, she tried to escape by going back the way she had come but her avenue of retreat had already been cut off. Helplessly, she was caught in the surge of the crowd and carried forward toward the embassy.
As I watched, her expression changed from frightened to angry. My interest sharpened when she tried to push past several large men, even going so far as to elbow one of them hard in the stomach. To my disgust, he responded by shoving her with enough force to send her straight into the wall around the embassy.
Her head collided with the rough stone. She crumbled onto the ground where she was suddenly in very real danger of being trampled. The man went right on, either oblivious to what he had done or uncaring of the results.
As much as I had been struck by her exotic beauty, the nimbus of light around her pale hair, and the lithe grace of her body, I recognized in that instant that my response to her went much deeper. Her courage, the flare of anger that revealed her disgust at what was happening and her bold spirit all called to me just as powerfully.
Normally, I would have been concerned for anyone in such a situation but my reaction to the young human woman went far beyond that. It was at once out of proportion yet somehow right, even inevitable. On an alien world, truly a stranger in a strange land, I was stunned to feel such an instantaneous sense of connection to a woman I had not even met. And very likely never would unless something changed quickly.
The thought of all that she was--her youth and beauty, her courage and strength--being put at risk by the insanity of the mob that suddenly threatened to extinguish her life was nothing short of repellant.
Fury roared through me. I didn’t pause to question it. In an instant, I leaped the height of the wall and landed lightly on the other side. Behind me, I was aware of Altan shouting my name but all my attention was focused on the young woman.
The humans who stood between me and where she lay were no impediment. I tossed them aside easily, clearing a path to her side. In a glance, I saw that her eyes were closed, her skin devoid of all color. Blood ran from her brow onto the pavement. Crumbled, she looked smaller and acutely vulnerable.
The mob surged around us, behaving almost like a single, living organism driven by the most primitive impulses. Smash. Destroy. Kill.
Distantly, I heard someone yell, “A Krinar! Get him!”
The words meant nothing to me. Only the girl mattered. In that moment, a red mist rising before my eyes, I would have killed anyone who got in my way and the diplomatic consequences be damned.
Obeying instincts as ancient as those of my primitive ancestors, I bent and lifted her in my arms. Her weight was negligible against my strength. She fit perfectly against me, as though she had always belonged there.
Altan was at my side suddenly, leading a phalanx of Guardians. Distantly, I realized that they were there to protect me. The mob was screaming, baying for blood. A brick was thrown and as quickly deflected. Others followed but to no avail. Under the barrage, we withdrew in good order back into the embassy.
Beyond the entrance, I didn’t stop but strode quickly down the hall to the medical center, all too vividly aware of the bright red drops of blood trailing behind me.